LGBTQ+ media

LGBTQ+ media or gay media refers to media whose primary target audience is members of the LGBTQ community. Secondary targets are LGBTQ+ allies, and in some instances those who oppose gay rights may be targeted as a form of activism. Gay or queer media can also be defined as web sites, films, magazines and other cultural products that were created by queer individuals, or groups that are typically out, meaning that they are public or open about their identity. LGBTQ creators do not always include LGBTQ themes or issues in the media that they produce, but there are often at least subtle references to queerness in these media.

There have been both positive and negative representations of gay people across popular media, including film, television, literature, press, etc.

LGBTQ representation in the media is powerful, particularly for youth. There have been studies that have shown that media can have an influence on LGBTQ+ people's self-realization, coming out, and current identities.

Africa

Namibian LGBTQ organization The Rainbow Project has broadcast the radio show Talking Pink in the country since 1999.

Asia

China

Les+ Magazine, a magazine aimed at queer women, was founded in Beijing in 2005.

India

Magazines and newspapers

India's first LGBTQ magazines appeared in the 1990s, with Bombay Dost in 1990 and Pravartak in 1991.

Europe

LGBTQ periodicals began being published in European countries in the 1970s, and have been published in a number of countries, including Hungary (Mások, 1991) Ireland (Gay Community News, 1988), the Netherlands (Gay Krant, 1980), Romania (Switch, 2005) and Sweden (QX, 1995).

France began seeing LGBTQ magazines in the late 1970s, with Gai pied in 1979. The 1980s saw further publications, including Gaie France (1986) and Illico (1988).

Germany

Periodicals

The first gay journal in the world, Der Eigene, was published in Berlin beginning in 1896 by Adolf Brand. A number of LGBTQ periodicals were published in Weimar Germany, including Die Insel (1926) and Das 3. Geschlecht (1930), which is thought to be the first transvestite magazine in history. Weimar Germany was also home to multiple lesbian periodicals, including Die Freundin (1924), Frauenliebe (1926) and Die BIF (mid to late 1920s). These publications had ceased by 1933, with the rise of the Nazi party to power.

In the second half of the 20th century, a major LGBTQ periodical in Germany is Siegessäule, which was established in 1984.

United Kingdom

Magazines and newspapers

In the United Kingdom, the 1960, 1970s, and 1980s saw a number of LGBTQ magazines and newspapers established, including Arena Three (1964-1971), Gay News (1972-1983), Capital Gay (1981-1995) and Pink Paper (1987-2009). In the 21st century, the U.K. is home to online newspaper PinkNews.

Radio

By the 1990s, the BBC hosted two gay and lesbian radio shows: Gay and Lesbian London, and Gaytalk.

Middle East

The Middle East has seen its first LGBTQ periodicals in the 21st century, including My.Kali, founded in 2007, and El Shad, created in 2014.

North America

Canada

Comics

Beginning in 1987, Canadian lesbian cartoonist Noreen Stevens illustrated the comic strip The Chosen Family, which featured LGBTQ characters and was based on Stevens' own experiences.

Periodicals

A number of LGBTQ-related periodicals have been published in Canada, in both English and French-speaking communities. Les Mouches fantastiques, the earliest known gay or lesbian periodical on the continent, was published in Montreal from 1918 to 1920. Early Canadian periodicals in the gay rights movement included Gay (1964), TWO (1964), The Body Politic (1971), FILE Megazine (1972), Amazones d'Hier, Lesbiennes d'Aujourd'hui (1982), Perceptions (1983), Wayves (1983), Fugues (1984), and Rites (1984). One of the first queer zines, J.D.s, was published by G.B Jones and Bruce LaBruce from 1985 until 1991.

In 2012, LGBTQ literary magazine Plenitude was launched in Canada.

United States

Books and pamphlets

The early 1970s saw the publication of texts by lesbian feminists, such as Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon's Lesbian/Woman in 1972 and Jill Johnston's Lesbian Nation in 1973.

In 1977, American gay authors Charles Silverstein and Edmund White released the sex manual The Joy of Gay Sex. In 1982, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence published Play Fair!, a brochure about safe sex for gay men.

In 1981, the lesbian feminist S/M organisation Samois, based in San Francisco, published the anthology Coming to Power. The work combined short stories with advice.

Comics

Beginning in 1983, American lesbian cartoonist Alison Bechdel illustrated Dykes to Watch Out For, a comic strip revolving around a primarily lesbian cast. In 1989, gay cartoonist Eric Orner launched The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green, a comic strip featuring a gay male protagonist.

Film

The Motion Picture Production Code, an industry guideline in which Hollywood's motion picture producers agreed to self-censor all major motion pictures from 1934 to 1968, led to LGBTQ invisibility in film in United States film. However, even in the 1960s and 1970s, when LGBTQ representation in film was becoming more commonplace, it was also becoming more homophobic. Gay characters in this time period were represented very negatively, whether that meant they were dangerous and suicidal, or predatory and violent. Examples of such movies include The Children's Hour, The Boys in the Band, Midnight Express, and Vanishing Point.

In 1977, American director Arthur J. Bressan Jr. released Gay USA, thought to be the first documentary by and about LGBTQ people.

In the 1990s, films that included LGBTQ themes, such as The Birdcage, Philadelphia, To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Flawless and In & Out were quite popular. 2005, Brokeback Mountain grossed over $178 million and in 2017, Moonlight won the Academy Award for Best Picture along with Actor in a Supporting Role and Adapted Screenplay.

The gay man and heterosexual woman couple has become a popular film genre in recent years. This coupling exists in popular films such as My Best Friend's Wedding, The Object of My Affection, and The Next Best Thing. According to Helene Shugart, writing in Critical Studies in Media Communication, homosexuality is recoded and modified in these films to approve sexism and heteronormativity.

Magazines and newspapers

Prior to the beginning of the gay rights movement, some gay and lesbian magazines were published in the U.S. Vice Versa, published 1947 and 1948, is the earliest known lesbian periodical in the U.S. The first national distributed lesbian periodical was The Ladder, founded in 1956. Publications in the 1960s included Drum (Philadelphia, 1964) and The Advocate (Los Angeles, 1967). In 1966, midwest gay activist Drew Shafer founded The Phoenix: Midwest Homophile Voice, the first known LGBTQ magazine published in the Midwestern U.S., in Kansas City, Missouri.

The beginning of the gay rights movement, from 1969 through the 1970s, saw a number of LGBTQ newspapers established across the country. These included Come Out! (New York City, 1969), The Gay Blade (Washington, D.C., 1969), Bay Area Reporter (San Francisco Bay Area, 1971), Fag Rag (Boston, 1971), Lavender Woman (Chicago, 1971), Chicago Gay Crusader (1973), Gay Community News (Boston, 1973), the San Francisco Sentinel (1974), Philadelphia Gay News (1976), Gaysweek (New York City, 1977), and San Francisco Bay Times (1978).

Radio

In 1956, Pacifica Radio became the first known listener-sponsored non-commercial American radio network to allow openly LGBTQ individuals airtime.

One of the nation's earliest LGBTQ radio programs was Lesbian Nation (1972-1973), an interview show created by Martha Shelley, a member of the Daughters of Bilitis and the Gay Liberation Front. In 1975, the LGBTQ interview program Wilde ‘n’ Stein began broadcasting on Houston's KPFT station. In Hartford, Connecticut, Gay Spirit Radio began airing in November 1980. The program includes interviews, news, and music segments.

Television

The Code of Practices for Television Broadcasters indirectly prohibited positive homosexual representation from 1952 to 1983, preventing many queer actors in the television field from coming out and further preventing representation of the LGBTQ+ community in commercial television. However, many LGBTQ communities made use of public-access television to broadcast self-created programs. These included variety shows like The Emerald City (1977-1979), Gay Morning America (1984-1985) and Candied Camera (1990s), scripted programs, like soap opera Secret Passions, informational shows (Dyke TV, Gay USA) and interview programs like The Glennda and Brenda Show. In the 1980s, LGBTQ public access programs spoke frankly about the HIV/AIDS crisis, sharing information and educating viewers on the disease.

In 1997, Ellen became the first show to have a gay main character. After this, there was an increase in shows that included recurring gay characters such as Will & Grace, Dawson's Creek, Spin City, ER, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Nightline, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Queer as Folk, The Young and Restless, Ugly Betty and Glee.

Reality TV shows have also frequently represented openly gay people, such as MTV's The Real World, CBS's Survivor and The Amazing Race.

In recent years, there has been a notable increase in the portrayal of LGBTQ+ characters and storylines across a wide range of television genres.

Oceania

Australia

In 1978, the Gay Teachers and Students Group of Melbourne released Young, Gay and Proud, a book aimed at teenagers exploring a gay identity.

New Zealand

In 1973, the Sisters for Homophile Equality (SHE) in Wellington, New Zealand founded The Circle, which continued to publish until 1986.

South America

In Brazil, the zine Chanacomchana, published between 1981 and 1987, aimed to organize feminists around lesbian issues.

See also

• LGBTQ marketing
• Lists of LGBTQ figures in fiction and myth
• List of LGBTQ-related films
• Queer coding
• Queerbaiting

Further reading

• Kerrigan, Páraic; O'Brien, Anne (September 20, 2018). ""Openness through Sound": Dualcasting on Irish LGBT Radio". Journal of Radio & Audio Media. 25 (2): 224–239.
• Copeland, Stacey (September 20, 2018). "Broadcasting Queer Feminisms: Lesbian and Queer Women Programming in Transnational, Local, and Community Radio". Journal of Radio & Audio Media. 25 (2): 209–223.

This article incorporates material from the Citizendium article "Gay media", which is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License but not under the GFDL.